H.I.D start up

[-DAvo]

Hey all,

As the title states, when i fire up my HIDs, the passenger bulb seems to flicker ever so slightly.. it only happens during the "warm up" period and once the light levels off it stops and works as per normal..

just wondering if anyone elses lights do this? is this a cause for concern?

cheers

[J e r e M y]

The 1 on my passenger side flickers a lil during startup as well..

Well i guess if it ONLY flickers during startup its not too much of a prob :P

its only a prob when it flickers continuously :)

[-DAvo]

The 1 on my passenger side flickers a lil during startup as well..

Well i guess if it ONLY flickers during startup its not too much of a prob :P

its only a prob when it flickers continuously :)

yeah thats what i was thinking, was just wanting to know what was causing it... my guess is perhaps something to do with the amount of current being drawn upon start up? either that or something funky going on inside the ballast...

btw, i noticed your a perthie! *yay* nice looking corolla.. mine seved me very well

[J e r e M y]

EHhehehe :P yes i ammmmmmm

but i think my car`s electrics has always been a lil weird n all :(

hids r owes like "yellowish" on my car :\

[DJKOR]

HID lamps work by passing a low voltage (approx. 200V) arc through gaseous metal halide salts. These take time to vaporise and that is why most discharge lamps you find take a couple to a few minutes to 'warm up'. Most LCD projectors are a good example.

Automotive HID lamps (and other fast starting discharge lamps) on the other hand start by an initial high voltage (approx 20kV) arc across the xenon gas in the bulb. That is usually enough to vaporise the salts within the bulb to allow it to then pass low voltage (approx. 200V) and still have reasonably bright light without the need to wait a few minutes to warm up. Your HID ballast does all this fairly seamlessly without you having to think.

As the lamp ages, or possibly caused to the quality of the salts used by cheaper manufacturing processes, the salts may get slightly harder to vaporise. The flickering you see is the ballast going through it's 'ignition' phase where it is trying to get them to vaporise (ie. if it's not vaporised enough, it will quickly give it another 20kV pulse).

In simple English, HID technology is not exactly as simple as it may look.

No need to panic. Once it starts flickering during normal use, then you should.

[maso_01993]

hi guys, when i start the aurion the headlights dont flicker but they do dim for 1 sec while it is starting and then go back to normal brighness....does everyone elses aurions do this too???....cheers and thanks in advance!

[Mr De Angelo]

That is normal for HID, like DJKOR said it has something to do with the power supply, but I won't delve into it. My friend has an Accord fitted with HIDs OEM and that is completely normal

[J e r e M y]

hi guys, when i start the aurion the headlights dont flicker but they do dim for 1 sec while it is starting and then go back to normal brighness....does everyone elses aurions do this too???....cheers and thanks in advance!

thats prob the HIDs warming up..the need time to warm up

[DJKOR]

hi guys, when i start the aurion the headlights dont flicker but they do dim for 1 sec while it is starting and then go back to normal brighness....does everyone elses aurions do this too???....cheers and thanks in advance!

Most cars will do this with halogen bulbs as well. Do you pay attention to everything else in thhe car that is powered? Notice the dash turns off, as does the stereo and fan. This is because the starter motor draws quite a bit of current and as a result, everything else tied to the battery doesn't get priority.

[maso_01993]

That is normal for HID, like DJKOR said it has something to do with the power supply, but I won't delve into it. My friend has an Accord fitted with HIDs OEM and that is completely normal

hi guys, when i start the aurion the headlights dont flicker but they do dim for 1 sec while it is starting and then go back to normal brighness....does everyone elses aurions do this too???....cheers and thanks in advance!

thats prob the HIDs warming up..the need time to warm up

hi guys, when i start the aurion the headlights dont flicker but they do dim for 1 sec while it is starting and then go back to normal brighness....does everyone elses aurions do this too???....cheers and thanks in advance!

Most cars will do this with halogen bulbs as well. Do you pay attention to everything else in thhe car that is powered? Notice the dash turns off, as does the stereo and fan. This is because the starter motor draws quite a bit of current and as a result, everything else tied to the battery doesn't get priority.

ah ha....now i understand! i thought it must have been a common problem because i know a few people with aurions and all do the ame thing....thanks for the help!, cheers